Holism is about looking at the big picture – a system, organization or individual as a whole – in order to understand how its parts fit together. Otherwise, you may miss important underlying causes of poor performance. For instance, a doctor who only diagnoses physical symptoms may fail to address relevant psychological issues lying behind a health problem. A new illness is bound to develop later on.
For companies, the road toward excellence is also a journey toward a holistic view of the business, including research and development, manufacturing, quality and sustainability, marketing and sales, communication and more. Improving every process while keeping close watch on the whole improves the performance of the entire organization.
Achieving this vision is very difficult for international operations with subsidiary companies in different parts of the world. It requires inspiring and empowered leadership combined with a common understanding of where the road leads. The journey may take forever, but every step brings returns such as reduced consumption of raw materials and energy, committed employees and a stronger market position.
In the distant future we may achieve a holistic view on society and humanity; then there will be less need to defend excellence against those going in the opposite direction. But today unscrupulous people are still undermining business with counterfeit goods. Unfortunately, those goods are found everywhere.
Enjoy your reading!
Madeleine de Laval
Editor in chief
Tags:
